My Childhood Friend, Who Is An Omega, Has Become My Personal Secretary - Chapter 2

Don’t scare her; take it slow.

Back at the dining table, Ji Zeyuan’s father noticed the shift in her mood and asked with concern, “Xiao Yuan, what’s wrong? Your face is so red. Do you have a fever?”

Ji Zeyuan stole a glance at Zhang Linen, who had followed her back, and forced herself to remain calm as she explained, “No, my rut is coming.”

Zhang Linen’s gaze swept over and landed on Ji Zeyuan’s face. Before the father could ask another question, she cut in first: “Did you bring your suppressants?”

Ji Zeyuan didn’t react for a moment and blurted out subconsciously, “No.”

Zhang Linen fell into deep thought for a moment, then stood up and said, “I’ll go buy some.”

Startled, Ji Zeyuan quickly tried to stop her. “I’m a Prime Alpha; I won’t lose control easily. Besides, the rut hasn’t actually started yet; there are only some symptoms…”

“Do you usually go out like this?” The habitually gentle Zhang Linen suddenly displayed an unprecedented fury. Her tone was harsh as she interrupted Ji Zeyuan, her burning gaze laced with a hint of interrogation. Her fair face grew dark, like dense clouds gathering before a rainstorm.

Zhang Linen pressed her hands against the edge of the table, her fingertips turning white from the pressure. “What if you accidentally encounter an Omega in heat? Could you control yourself then? All these years you…”

She stopped herself, her eyes profound, her throat feeling as if a fishbone were stuck in it, unable to make another sound.

Due to her emotional agitation, she released some unpleasant pheromones, causing both the Alpha and the Omega present to change expression.

Ji Zeyuan also found it difficult to withstand the overflowing pheromones from Zhang Linen. She clutched her chest in discomfort, but before she could argue back, Zhang Linen had already walked out the door.

After Zhang Linen left, the father explained to Ji Zeyuan with a kind face: “Xiao Yuan, Linen is doing this for your own good, just in case. You are the sole heir to the Jixia Group; it wouldn’t be good if some negative news accidentally broke out.”

Utterly hypocritical, Ji Zeyuan sneered inwardly. She ignored her father and silently lowered her head to eat. A silence fell over the dining table.

It wasn’t long before Zhang Linen returned in a rush, carrying a large bag of medication.

Looking at the massive pile of medicine, Ji Zeyuan couldn’t help but say, “I don’t need this much. This is enough for six months.”

Zhang Linen pushed the medication in front of Ji Zeyuan and said firmly, “Keep them in the car you usually drive, just in case.”

Ji Zeyuan opened her mouth, hesitating and not reaching out to take them. However, she didn’t argue further either. She looked at the driver standing behind her, who took the hint and picked up the large bag of suppressants from the table.

Zhang Linen opened one of the boxes, read the instructions for a while, and then popped out two tablets according to the directions. She then personally went to the kitchen to prepare a glass of warm water, tasted it herself first to ensure the temperature was just right, and handed both the tablets and the water to Ji Zeyuan.

“Take them.” Zhang Linen’s tone was gentle but brook no argument.

Ji Zeyuan turned the glass to the side that Zhang Linen’s lips hadn’t touched, and then swallowed the tablets with the water.

Only after witnessing Ji Zeyuan take the suppressants did Zhang Linen’s expression soften slightly. She didn’t return to her original seat but naturally sat down in the spot next to Ji Zeyuan.

Ji Zeyuan stiffened and shifted her body slightly, turning to her father. “Father, is there anything else?”

The father put down his utensils and said to the servant beside him, “Ask Auntie Zhang to come here for a moment.” Then he said to Ji Zeyuan, “You haven’t seen Auntie Zhang in a long time; you must miss her, and she worries about you too. You two should meet.”

Upon hearing the name “Auntie Zhang,” Ji Zeyuan’s pupils trembled almost imperceptibly.

During Ji Zeyuan’s childhood, because Ji Cheng was busy with work, Auntie Zhang attended all the various school activities that required parental presence. After spending so much time together, Ji Zeyuan had long since secretly regarded Auntie Zhang as her mother—until she discovered that Auntie Zhang was her father’s mistress, and Zhang Linen was her father’s illegitimate daughter.

The sudden realization that the person she had always liked was actually her biological sister was a blow that forced Ji Zeyuan to flee the country.

The people she found difficult to face were not just Zhang Linen, but also Auntie Zhang.

Ji Zeyuan shifted her stiffened waist uneasily, until she heard the servant say, “Auntie Zhang has something to attend to at home; she took the day off today.” Only then did she quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

“Then you can meet next time,” Ji Cheng said amiably. Just then, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, and his face immediately turned serious.

“Xiao Yuan, Linen, you two chat. I have some matters to handle.” With that, Ji Cheng stood up and headed back upstairs.

Only Ji Zeyuan and Zhang Linen were left at the dining table.

Ji Zeyuan lifted her hand to check her watch and made a silent decision in her heart. She turned to look directly at Zhang Linen. “Let’s talk now.”

Zhang Linen gazed at her and gave a slow, heavy nod.

The two strolled together to the small garden in front of the villa. The night grew deeper, and the soft light from the courtyard lamps illuminated the colorful garden, making it look quiet and beautiful. Ji Zeyuan lightly sat down on the swing set, which emitted a chaotic “creak.”

“This thing is old; it needs to be replaced later,” Ji Zeyuan murmured to herself.

Zhang Linen’s eyes darkened, and she let out a strangely bitter laugh.

Because it was so dark and the lighting was limited, Ji Zeyuan didn’t notice this subtle change in expression. She waited until the swing set gradually stabilized and stopped making noise before lifting her eyes to look calmly at Zhang Linen. “If you have something to say, say it.”

After returning to the country, it wouldn’t be easy to keep avoiding Zhang Linen forever. Moreover, Ji Cheng had arranged for Zhang Linen to work under her; they would inevitably see each other in the future. Making another appointment would only be a short delay. It was better to just speak clearly now, solve what needed to be solved, and cut off what needed to be cut off.

A gentle breeze brushed past. Zhang Linen’s cherry-pink lips parted slightly: “Have you been doing well abroad?”

Ji Zeyuan was stunned. She hadn’t expected Zhang Linen’s first sentence to be this.

“Yes.” Ji Zeyuan was brief, offering not a single extra word of filler.

Zhang Linen’s eyes flickered, watching Ji Zeyuan’s indistinct features under the yellow light, tracing every contour of her face with her gaze.

“Did you…” Zhang Linen’s voice faltered. She paused for a long time before asking, “Did you fall in love while you were abroad?”

Ji Zeyuan didn’t quite understand the point of Zhang Linen asking this, so she could only honestly reply, “No. My foreign language skills were too poor; they all thought I spoke very strangely.”

Hearing this, Zhang Linen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Her gloomy expression finally dissipated, and her lips curled up into a trace of sunshine.

“Who told you not to listen during language classes back in school?” Zhang Linen’s tone was laced with a faint smile. She said this very lightly, as if the past eight years had completely vanished, and they had returned to being eighteen in high school.

Ji Zeyuan felt a bit dazed. Zhang Linen’s words felt like a casual remark during a normal afternoon chat—a piece of intimate scolding. The tension on Ji Zeyuan’s face cracked, revealing a hint of relaxation.

But she quickly remembered Zhang Linen’s identity as her biological sister and forcefully pulled herself back, returning to her cold demeanor.

“Do you have anything else to say? If not, I’ll be leaving first,” Ji Zeyuan emphasized in an icy tone, shattering all traces of the warm atmosphere.

Zhang Linen pulled back her smile and remained silent for a long time, her voice choking up. “Don’t you have anything to say?”

Ji Zeyuan shook her head indifferently. “No.”

Zhang Linen gave a bitter smile. “Then neither do I.”

With that, Ji Zeyuan stood up from the swing. She smoothed out the creases in her skirt from sitting and started to walk away.

“This swing set is very sturdy; it can still be used.” As she reached the door, Zhang Linen suddenly spoke from a distance.

Ji Zeyuan’s hand on the door paused for a second, but in the end, she didn’t look back. She walked straight out of the house into the dim night.

After finishing his phone call, Ji Cheng came downstairs. Zhang Linen was sitting desolately on the sofa in the foyer, staring blankly at a photo of her and Ji Zeyuan on the table.

Ji Cheng looked toward the empty foyer and asked, “Has Xiao Yuan already left?”

Zhang Linen nodded silently without a word.

Ji Cheng approached Zhang Linen and sat on the sofa opposite her, a trace of testing on his face. “How was your talk with Xiao Yuan?”

Zhang Linen gazed longingly at Ji Zeyuan in the photo, then eventually shook her head. “Not great. She still refuses to say anything.”

Ji Cheng looked panicked and spoke hesitantly, “Does she really not know something?”

Zhang Linen turned her head to look at Ji Cheng, her gaze sharp and her expression cold. “How could she? Unless you let something slip… you didn’t, right?”

Her tone was very low and full of threat, as if should Ji Cheng answer “yes,” she would grind him into ashes.

Ji Cheng was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and sighed. “Linen, if it weren’t for your insistence on not letting me tell the truth, the person serving as the CEO of Jixia Group right now would be you.”

“Why do you insist on me not telling the truth? I raised Xiao Yuan for so many years; even if she has no blood relation to me, I would never mistreat her. You…”

“Mr. Chairman, please say no more.”

Zhang Linen interrupted the increasingly agitated Ji Cheng, her tone resolute.

“If you tell Ji Zeyuan the truth, I will never forgive you for the rest of my life.”

Ji Cheng was speechless. After a long silence, he could only say helplessly, “Rest assured, I won’t say it.”

Upon hearing the clear guarantee, Zhang Linen’s expression softened slightly. Her gaze returned to Ji Zeyuan’s face in the photo as she contemplated the past.

Not long after Ji Zeyuan went abroad, Zhang Linen learned a shocking secret. She was not her mother’s daughter, but the biological daughter of Ji Cheng, the Chairman of Jixia Group. And Ji Zeyuan, who had lived a life of privilege, was actually the daughter of the nanny, Auntie Zhang.

The two had been born in the same hospital. Due to a doctor’s mistake, the families had taken the wrong babies. It wasn’t until the doctor who made the mistake was investigated and arrested that this old case finally came to light.

Upon learning the truth, Ji Cheng found her, wanting her to return to the family and requiring her to undergo professional heir training. As for Ji Zeyuan, Ji Cheng stated that out of consideration for their past relationship, he would still treat her as his daughter and would let her hold an important position in the group in the future.

Zhang Linen had rejected all of this. She didn’t want to do anything that would hurt Ji Zeyuan, nor would she allow anyone else to hurt her.

Zhang Linen originally thought that by keeping this secret, their daily lives wouldn’t be destroyed, and she could continue to be with Ji Zeyuan in peace.

But then one day, Ji Zeyuan left home for no reason, and later decisively went abroad without even seeing her. That departure lasted eight years.

Initially, Zhang Linen thought Ji Cheng hadn’t kept his promise and had told Ji Zeyuan the truth. She went to confront Ji Cheng, but he firmly denied it. Zhang Linen also investigated those close to Ji Zeyuan and finally confirmed that Ji Zeyuan indeed hadn’t found out.

She reflected on herself over and over, recalling every detail of her time with Ji Zeyuan, every action that might have made Ji Zeyuan annoyed with her, yet she remained utterly baffled.

During those days of thinking about Ji Zeyuan Day and night, being unable to contact her drove her nearly insane.

Zhang Linen had once sworn to herself that if she ever caught Ji Zeyuan again, she would use any means necessary to keep Ji Zeyuan by her side, so she could go nowhere.

When she learned from Hua Jianjiu that Ji Zeyuan had returned to the country, she thought of various plans, vowing that Ji Zeyuan wouldn’t run away this time.

The moment she saw Ji Zeyuan appear before her with her own eyes, all those plans turned into bubbles. Only one thought remained in her mind: It’s good that you’re back.

At the same time, she suddenly realized how foolish and impulsive those thoughts were.

Given Ji Zeyuan’s personality, if she were too aggressive and didn’t give her a single inch of space, she would surely run away again—and this time, Ji Zeyuan would disappear for even longer, even more thoroughly.

I can’t scare her. I can’t force her. Otherwise, she will run away and cry. I have to take it slow.

In this first meeting after eight years, ever since leaving the house, Ji Zeyuan’s mind had been in a state of chaos. The faint grassy scent of Zhang Linen’s pheromones lingered in her brain, and that gentle “It’s good that you’re back” felt like a sharp silver needle driven deep into her heart.

Just as she was feeling anxious and uneasy, Hua Jianjiu sent her a message: “Xiao Yuan, are you mad? I was wrong! Next time I definitely won’t drink so much!”

This message pulled Ji Zeyuan back to reality from the edge of chaos. She raised her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, thought for a moment, and replied: “Not mad.”

“Really? You’re the type to hide things. If you’re unhappy, don’t be stubborn. We’re sisters; we can’t let a little conflict leave a scar.”

Looking at Hua Jianjiu’s long-winded but sincere words, the gloom on Ji Zeyuan’s face dissipated a little. Her tense expression relaxed slightly as she replied: “You talk too much.”

“Haha, now that’s Ji Zeyuan. Now I’m relieved; we’re really okay.”

“Oh, by the way, aren’t you about to take office at headquarters? When the time comes, I’ll definitely hold a huge welcome ceremony for you!”

Hua Jianjiu was Ji Zeyuan’s senior from high school. She came from an ordinary working-class family and had excellent grades. After graduating with a Master’s from A University, she worked her way into Jixia Group, moving from a subsidiary to the headquarters. She was currently the Brand Planning Supervisor at the Jixia Group headquarters.

“Don’t you dare.”

“I dare, but do you dare, President Ji? If we don’t set the stage big enough, how are we going to command respect?”

Ji Zeyuan chuckled out loud, her mood finally brightening. However, a subsequent text message shattered that brightness.

“Miss, I will be reporting to the head office tomorrow. At that time, I will be serving as the CEO’s secretary. I hope you can stop ignoring my messages and calls.”